I started reading one of those threads, but just knew I would never sleep again if I carried on!!Put on every light that you can, make a lot of noise, take a torch.If you have got cake in the house, focus on that as your ultimate goal.Good luck! We are all behind you!!!

I don't know I hate the dark, even without reading any posts. I think I've even made the cat scared of the dark somehow! Honestly if it's dark he meows and cries, I turn hall way light on and he doesn't make a sound all night!! The dog isn't much better .

We recently had a power cut, I've got loads of candles so not a huge deal. But even with candles everywhere I still made DH come to the bathroom with me and stand outside the open door talking to me (its mirrors, seeing a reflection in the dark that does it...I have 5 older siblings who enjoyed nothing more than trying to scare the younger ones when we were kids lol).

Ah MrsRajesh - you've got a cat. That's good. My theory is that as cats are renowned for sensing out supernatural thingummys, so long as your cat seems relaxed and normal then nothing untoward is in your house. When my daughter complains about "the dark" or gets the heebie-jeebies after watching/reading something scary, I always remind her that if we had any ghosts or somesuch the cats would let us know about it!!

I go to the loo at night without putting on any lights 2 or 3 times a night right now as pregnant with the idea that i wont 'wake up' as much that way. The journey begins in a bleary sleepy headed shuffle.

Sometimes - just sometimes - i'll be sat on the loo, in the dark, way out of reach of the light cord, and my mind starts to work and i start to really regret my decision!

Is there something peering through the banisters out there? ????? ?

The thing is then - if you leap up and put the light on, you're going to be blinded when it goes off and you'll have that awful panicy blunder across the landing and the bedroom where you can't see a darn thing!

But everybody knows once your rear end touches that mattress again you're safe as houses

I didn't go. And yes, pissing into a handy container and emptying it in the morning did cross my mind.

I waited until the morning. Luckily it's still getting light early.

Ghosts don't actually cause me too much concern. Spent years working nightshifts in nursing homes and was never massively bothered by ghostly encounters.

It was the stickmen and shadowmen which have properly shit me up. Even now in daylight the thought of them is making me 'uneasy'.

The fecking cats were making a racket last night too. Lots of jumping onto cupboards, chasing each other and frantic digging in the litter trays. Normally I just think, 'Meh. Cats.' but last night I had genuine fears that they were all pyscho killers.

I'm a big Steven King fan - I'm not usually this easy to scare..!

True about the cats/ghost thing though. I lived in a small house when I was about 20 with the ghost of an older man (apparently a caretaker - very tall, saw him a few times) and my cat (very quiet and timid stray I picked up) would randomly go absolutely batshit crazy at nothing.

I don't blame you op. I had to stop reading that thread because it was freaking me out. Then i started remembering other scary stories I'd heard, a lot of them on here, about haunted hospitals and dolls with heads that turn around and that scared me even more.